Inquest Into Wife-Killer's Death

An inquest's heard how a man committed suicide because he was "guilt-ridden" over killing his wife nearly 50 years earlier when he found out she was having an affair.

David Page, 72, used a bin bag to kill himself at the care home where he lived in Alresford near Winchester in December last year.

The hearing in Winchester was told that he killed his wife in 1963 when he discovered she was seeing another man and he served two years of a three-year sentence for manslaughter.

Since then he had suffered from depression and consultant psychiatrist Janet Daoud told the hearing in a statement that Mr Page was "preoccupied with guilty feelings about his wife's death. He didn't feel adequately punished," she said.

The Parkinson's sufferer had tried to take his life before and had suffered from depression, the hearing was told. He was also struggling with the disease, which had affected him more and more.

His son, Mark Page, told the hearing he had "intensely disliked" his father when he was younger because he was selfish but when he got older they had got on, but were not close.

He said he had been told his father flipped and killed his mother but they had never talked about it.

"My gran did mention she was very flirtatious and he was quite jealous.

"She could have had an affair, I wouldn't have known that.

"My gran said he was guilt-ridden. He felt guilty about it all his life."